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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

A soccer brawl in Israel’s politically most loaded derby and
an alleged subsequent raid by the Israeli military on the offices the Palestine
Football Association (PFA) reflects a hardening of the Israeli-Palestinian
divide as Israel debates legislation that would emphasize the Jewish national
rather than the democratic nature of the state – a move that would effectively
deprive Israeli Palestinians of their identity as both Israelis and
Palestinians as well as of their equal rights.

The Israeli military said the incident had not been a raid.
It said a routine patrol had asked some Palestinians for their identification
cards, and when they said the cards were in Bnei Sakhnin’s offices soldiers had
entered the building to check their identities.

Statements in response to the PFA condemnation by world
soccer body FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
president Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa also denouncing the Israel raid
signalled that Israeli policy was likely to further isolate the Jewish state
and strengthen growing calls for disinvestment from and sanctions against
Israel. The Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign is one of the
Israel government’s greatest concerns. Messrs. Blatter and Salman's condemnation
coincided with a statement by the US State Department warning Israel that it
should “stick to its democratic principles.”

Sheikh Salman accused the Israelis of "breaking into
the PFA headquarters ... a dangerous precedent that requires the international
sporting family to stand together and support the PFA." He said the AFC
would work with FIFA to "study ways and mechanisms to put an end to the
suffering of Palestinian football, and send a tough message to the Israeli
authorities to stop its attacks on various parts of the Palestinian footballing
system."

The raid on the PFA headquarters came a day after fighting
broke out at the end of the club’s match against its arch rival Beitar
Jerusalem, the bete noire of Israeli soccer and the only Israeli team that
refuses to hire Palestinian players because of its racist fan base. Beitar
counts multiple right-wing Israeli leaders among its supports. Prime Minister
Benyamin Netanyahu’s recent attendance of a Beitar game was widely interpreted
as a possible indication that he might contemplating early elections.

The brawl erupted after Bnei Sakhnin fans in violation of
police orders smuggled Palestinian flags into the stadium and sported
kaffiyahs, the chequered Palestinian scarf. Animosity between the fan bases of
Bnei Sakhnin and Beitar runs deep. In recent months both fan groups have
emphasized rival Palestinian and Israeli claims to Jerusalem against a backdrop
of mounting tension in the city. Beitar fans sought to disrupt the match by
throwing soccer balls onto the pitch as it was being played and subsequently
ripped chairs out and destroyed bathrooms in the stadium, the only Israeli
facility to have been funded by Qatar, an Arab state that has no diplomatic
relations with Israel.

Mr. Blatter side lined in June on the eve of the Brazil
World Cup Palestinian calls for sanctions against the IFA in the wake of this
summer’s Gaza war and shielded FIFA from becoming the first international
organization to take action against Israel by establishing a committee that
would oversee efforts to address Palestinian grievances.

The Palestinians accused Israel in a 45-page report
submitted to FIFA of persistently seeking to undermine Palestinian soccer
activity and development. The committee is expected to report back to FIFA by the
end of this year. Israel has cited security concerns as the reason for
restrictions on the movement of players and officials charging that some of
them intended to "harm the state of Israel and its citizens." The
FIFA committee is unlikely to be able to report significant progress in the
current environment despite a planned meeting in Morocco between the IFA and
PFA on the side lines of the FIFA World Cup.aa

Years of failed efforts by FIFA to ease Israeli restrictions
on Palestinian soccer and establish a mechanism that would allow the
Palestinian and Israeli federations to resolve problems are likely to
strengthen the Palestinian efforts to persuade the soccer body to sanction
Israel.

James M.
Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies,
co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the
author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog
and a forthcoming book with the same title.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile